NeverThatBored: To be a cat, or to stop being a cat?

[NeverThatBored]

Meow. My last challenge was declared the unofficial NF cat appreciation club, so I figured I might as run with the theme.

 

This will be my 10th challenge, which is pretty cool! Double digits! That means something, right? Here’s the basic structure I use for my challenges: Everything is worth points. Some things are worth bonus points. Bonus points can be applied to any category, to help remind me that health is hollistic.  

 

I’m slightly concerned that rangerbrain is creeping in this challenge, but I’m trying to be conscious about it. I removed some things from my goals that I was tired of doing, and I’ve tried to prioritize and value things in a way that keeps me from getting overwhelmed.

 

I’ll also be travelling from May 4 - May 11th, so I’m initiating specific travel protocols for that period before moving into my main challenge goals. I realize some of this falls on Week 0 anyway, but I try to keep going on most stuff through Week 0. I plan to use Week 0 to calibrate my goals - I’ll be lenient with some of them, ignore some of them, and do others in full, but nothing will count towards my challenge score.

 

Goal 1: Maintain Fitness

This is where I stick all of my ongoing fitness stuff. These are mostly the same every challenge, but tracking it as a challenge goal still helps keep me motivated. I’ve been doing a daily squat hold for a few challenges, but I don’t think it’s helping me so I’m dropping it this time.

 

1. Work out 3x/week - usually 1 bootcamp class and 2 bodyweight workouts

2. Run 1x/week - 3 points available

   1. 1 for running at all

   2. 1 for doing something extra to prep for the Spartan in August (hill runs, extra distance, whatever)

   3. 1 for doing ankle alphabets before/after the run. I got sick of doing these every day after 3 challenges, so I’m going to see if I can get away with doing them just on run days.

3. Walk 16 miles per week (64 in 4 weeks), 1 bonus point per extra 5 miles.

4. 1 Pushup AMRAP / week

 

Goal 2: Movement Focus - Spartan Training

I usually do a movement focus where I do some dedicated practice for something I’m working on improving, like pushups or squat holds. This time around, I’m doing a variety of things to train for the Spartan I agreed to run with Sylvaa and fleaball in August. Not gonna lie, I love training for things so I'm going to milk this as much as possible.

 

1. 30 burpees/day challenge.

   • Done all in a row, with rest breaks only as necessary to maintain form. I’m not allowed break them up throughout the day. Ideally done first thing in the morning.

   • No make ups. I don’t want these to pile up. The goal is to do it daily, so if I don’t do it I don’t do it.

   • Half points available for doing 15 instead of 30, but through Week 2 only

   • Take this one with a grain of salt. It’s a challenge, but I’m deliberately going to assign it fewer stat points/lower priority because it’s more difficult than most of my other goals and I don’t know how it’ll go.

2. Running

   1. Points for this are covered under my running goal, but I’m aiming to increase my base distance from 3.1 miles to 5ish miles over the next several months.

3. Bear crawls

   1. I’ve been wanting to work on bear crawls anyway, so this is a good excuse. If I tack these onto my bodyweight workouts as a warmup or cooldown, I get a point. 2-3 points available per week.

4. Pullup work

   1. I’m going to finally order a pullup bar. The only place I can put it is on my bathroom door, so I’ve been avoiding buying one. But my pulling strength is my weakness and I’m getting to the point in several progressions where it would be good to have one of these.

   2. Add pullup progression to workouts. 2 points available per week from the time I get the bar set up.

   3. TBD - add in 1 extra day of pullup work or practice grip strength by hanging. 1 point.

5. Climb stuff / Stop Being A Cat

   1. I LOVE climbing. I get the urge to climb things all the time, but when I get a few feet off the ground I freeze and have trouble getting back down. Because I am exactly like a cat that gets stuck in a tree. So, I want to work on that.

   2. Find stuff to climb. Jungle gym at the park. A nearby rock gym. Miscellaneous walls. Whatever. 1x/week - bonus points for every extra thing I work on climbing.

 

Goal 3: Food

Broken into 3 parts because rangerbrain.

 

Part A: Maintain things that work

• Don’t eat after 8pm (or within 3 hours of bedtime) (-1 point for failure)

• Don’t eat more than 1 bad food/meal in a day. Desserts are counted separately from meals in most cases. (-1 point for failure)

• Eat primalish most of the time (19 meals / week allows for 2 variance meals) (-1 point per failure, +1 point for extra primal meal)

• Aim for primal snacks on 4 days/week and then non-primal snacks ok 3 days per week

• Aim for at least 1 primal meal and 1 50% meal per day when travelling or hosting (-1 point per failure, +1 per success)

• Plan/prep meals over the weekend and prep/freeze meals for weeks when this doesn’t happen (+1 point when done successfully)

• Write down bad reactions to food choices in an ongoing spreadsheet to dissuade myself from making that choice a second time. Not connected to any points. Doing this is slowly starting to help me make better choices. Slowly.

• 23 points per week

 

Part B: Measure Carbs

Last challenge, I learned to track protein and found that I hit my goals on most days thanks to meal prep - unless I went on a carb binge. So, I feel like I have protein pretty under control. This challenge, I’m going to repeat the exercise with carbs to get a feel for my intake there.  My ultimate goal is just to understand what hitting my macros feels like and troubleshoot weight loss, not to make tracking a permanent thing.

• Weeks 0-2 – measure carb intake, but no need to try to hit a certain goal (1 point per day)

• Week 3-4 – start aiming for under 100g a day (2 points per day)

 

Part C: Continue to practice conscious eating

• Think about what I’m about to do before eating something. Ideally, pause and take a few deep breaths. At the least, recognize and acknowledge when I’m about to sell out my future self. (4 points per day – 3 meals and snacks)

 

Goal 4: Life Goal - Play Outside

I have a list of life goals I want to experiment with this year, but this time around I want to keep it light since I’ll be travelling from May 4th - 11th and have a lot of other stuff on my plate. I’m cheating a bit here because this could also be considered a fitness goal depending on how it goes.

 

But in general, my intention is just to play and have fun.

 

I will go on some sort of outdoor adventure once per week - biking, swimming, hiking, climbing, an epic walk, playing on swings, etc. 4 points available. Bonus points available for extra outdoor play. This can totally overlap with my "stop being a cat" goal.

 

Bonus Goals

These goals all earn me bonus points, but cannot be done at the expense of one of my main goals. I removed a couple that got annoying and added a new one this challenge.

 

1. Yoga 4x/week

2. Meditate 7x/week

3. Clean the sink before bed 4x/week

4. NEW Practice crow pose 5x/week

[NeverThatBored]

Travel Protocols

 

I’m going to be travelling from May 4th - May 11th, and I know I won’t be able to do everything during that time. So, I’m going to focus on three main goals while I’m travelling, and then my main goal plan will kick in when I'm home.

 

This can actually be broken down into two trips:

 

1. May 4th - 8th: Staying with my boyfriend. The big challenge here is just that he doesn’t cook and we usually eat out, but he’ll work with me on this one so it’s more about my own restraint and ability to speak up when I need time for something.

2. May 8th - 11th: Seeing my dad & sister who are flying here from across the country! I’m very excited for this. <3 We’ll probably be running around to different places and I won’t be in control of the travel, so it’s hard to predict how this will go foodwise.

 

So here’s the plan:

 

3 workouts per week. I’ve got a really nice streak going and my first priority is to maintain this streak. I can adjust workouts as needed to fit what’s available to me.

 

Meditate daily. This is only a bonus goal, but I have a 42 day streak going and I’d REALLY like to keep it going. I’ve had trouble with this in the past around other people because I’m shy about asking them to give me 15 minutes to meditate. But, this is important to me and I’m going to make it happen this time.

 

Eat primal as much as possible. I have a history of doing badly with food while travelling, but I did really well this past challenge and I genuinely don’t want to eat foods that make me feel bad. I usually say 1 primal meal and 1 50% meal (a little rice or something ok) per day, but honestly I’d really like to do better than that. I feel so good since I’m eating well, and I’m afraid that I’ll lose that feeling and be back at square one if I don’t stay in control of this. So, I’m not 100% sure how I want to score this yet.

 

1. Basic plan: Eat primal as much as possible. Avoid carbs as much as possible, especially carb-focused meals like bagels or pizza. Aim for at least one veggie-heavy meal per day.

2. I’m packing nuts and quest bars for snacking so I know I have those options available. I’ll try to pick up fruits or yogurt as snacks if it makes sense for what we’re doing too.

3. Maybe most importantly, I need to work on speaking up if I need to stop at a grocery store or avoid a type of restaurant, or take a few minutes for myself. I’m secretive about eating primal, which makes things harder on me than they have to be.

[Sylvaa]

Yay!

[Elastigirl]

Looks like a fun challenge. I love doing bear crawls as a warm up. Great travel protocols. I especially like the third one, speaking up about your needs. I struggle with this, but it really is necessary for success.

[Maggie-Miau]

*CHEERS* *Waves pom poms* *Throws confetti* Fun, fun, fun! Best wishes for your Challenge, your goals look great!

 

[iatetheyeti]

Ah, rangerbrain. Seems like there's no getting away from it!

 

Sounds like a solid challenge, and I'll be following along  

 

[RES]

Can't promise I'll keep up here but will be silently stalking anyway  

[NeverThatBored]

1 minute ago, RES said:

Can't promise I'll keep up here but will be silently stalking anyway  

 

Haha! That's all that I ask.

[Archon]

Burpee Buddy! Awesome challenge. Wow. I'm excited! I loved that you worked a lenient week 0.5 into your challenge

[Shello]

Great travel protocols.  That seems like a great approach and it's great that you recognize the difficulty you have with speaking up about your needs.  

[NeverThatBored]

Holy shit. So, I did 40 burpees for the Darebee Daily Dares PVP and tore a chunk of skin off my toe at about number 30. It's a good thing I'm used to rug burn from Aikido, but OW. It burns. 

 

...I've got my work cut out for me. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following.

[NeverThatBored]

Daily Summary:

 

I didn't do a ton of challenge stuff today, but I meditated and practiced crow pose. I did 40 burpees (10 extra for the darebee PVP), took probably 5 breaks to do it, and tore up one of my toes. Whoops? As a result of my adulting last challenge, I had both bloodwork AND a dental cleaning today. I also had Aikido this evening. 

 

Unfortunately, I had a bad food day. :/ I've been eyeing this picture of a cake in the grocery store flyer for days now, so I negotiated with myself. I said since this is Week 0 and that cake is probably full of weird ingredients, I'll make my own dessert from a list of recipes I want to try. So I made a lemon blueberry bread that uses greek yogurt and oats. I had some for breakfast after my bloodwork to baby myself. THEN I ate some when I got home. THEN I ate some after Aikido. I ate more than half of the loaf in a day. I feel the side effects from eating carbs/sugar, and I'm mad at myself for my lack of self control. 

 

I threw the rest of the loaf away, but I'm frustrated because my travel starts on Wednesday and that will be hard enough without doing this right before it. I'm frustrated because this happened right when I was feeling really light and energetic, like it always seems to. And I'm frustrated because I should have known this would happen if I made myself a dessert and had it at home available to me, but I didn't stop myself. 

 

Sorry to start week 0 off on such a negative note! I did learn some things from this and had a pretty good day otherwise. I learned that baking desserts doesn't help me any more than buying desserts. I feel terrible when I eat desserts like this, and I'm not ready to challenge my willpower by having them around. I reminded myself (AGAIN) that I genuinely feel bad after I eat stuff like that, and despite the appeal of certain foods I don't actually like them so much that they're worth the side effects. There are a small handful of desserts that I still love and enjoy and can have as occasional treats without this level of frustration, but most random desserts are not so good that they're worth feeling like this. And so on.

[Lara]

There is so much stuff here I don't know where to start to be amazed of.

 

15 hours ago, NeverThatBored said:

30 burpees/day challenge.

• Done all in a row, with rest breaks only as necessary to maintain form. I’m not allowed break them up throughout the day. Ideally done first thing in the morning

 

This left me with my mouth open. You do this and you do go on my altar of beloved heroes (not that I have one, but I would totally consider starting one just to put you there).

 

15 hours ago, NeverThatBored said:

I LOVE climbing. I get the urge to climb things all the time, but when I get a few feet off the ground I freeze and have trouble getting back down

 

I hear you on this. I've been there so many times.

 

Best luck for the challenge!

[NeverThatBored]

5 hours ago, zenLara said:

I hear you on this. I've been there so many times.

 

Hahaha! This is exactly what happens when I climb things. 

[Shello]

12 hours ago, NeverThatBored said:

Daily Summary:

 

I didn't do a ton of challenge stuff today, but I meditated and practiced crow pose. I did 40 burpees (10 extra for the darebee PVP), took probably 5 breaks to do it, and tore up one of my toes. Whoops? As a result of my adulting last challenge, I had both bloodwork AND a dental cleaning today. I also had Aikido this evening. 

 

Unfortunately, I had a bad food day. :/ I've been eyeing this picture of a cake in the grocery store flyer for days now, so I negotiated with myself. I said since this is Week 0 and that cake is probably full of weird ingredients, I'll make my own dessert from a list of recipes I want to try. So I made a lemon blueberry bread that uses greek yogurt and oats. I had some for breakfast after my bloodwork to baby myself. THEN I ate some when I got home. THEN I ate some after Aikido. I ate more than half of the loaf in a day. I feel the side effects from eating carbs/sugar, and I'm mad at myself for my lack of self control. 

 

I threw the rest of the loaf away, but I'm frustrated because my travel starts on Wednesday and that will be hard enough without doing this right before it. I'm frustrated because this happened right when I was feeling really light and energetic, like it always seems to. And I'm frustrated because I should have known this would happen if I made myself a dessert and had it at home available to me, but I didn't stop myself. 

 

Sorry to start week 0 off on such a negative note! I did learn some things from this and had a pretty good day otherwise. I learned that baking desserts doesn't help me any more than buying desserts. I feel terrible when I eat desserts like this, and I'm not ready to challenge my willpower by having them around. I reminded myself (AGAIN) that I genuinely feel bad after I eat stuff like that, and despite the appeal of certain foods I don't actually like them so much that they're worth the side effects. There are a small handful of desserts that I still love and enjoy and can have as occasional treats without this level of frustration, but most random desserts are not so good that they're worth feeling like this. And so on.

 

Congrats on having the strength to throw half of it away.  Don't feel too bad about the dessert.  Eating half of a loaf of something you made at home is still better than eating half of whatever that other thing was.  And you used this as a reminder for how you feel afterwards and you initiated an action to counter than by throwing it away.  Now it's time to look ahead and leave this behind. 

[Sylvaa]

I love the negotiation aspect of your "negative day". That is one nice thing for me having such a large family - things like that don't stay around long enough for me to get more than a piece!

 

I can definitely relate to your thought process. I no longer eat ice cream for this exact reason (and while I can eat dairy free, it's just not the same). I've got to find the source (and it's failing me at the moment), but there is a recent article that discusses how your body reacts to carbs after adjusting to being low-carb. While this doesn't take into consideration any other personal issues, it's not unusual to feel really bad (the source is actually about how people misinterpret this as gluten resistant). 

 

Wouldn't it be great if food willpower was as easy to get as exercise willpower?

[spooky]

You had me at "cat" <33333

 

Throwing out the loaf, finding the positives and the lessons in that experience, those are huge wins that will serve you well in the future <3. Trial and error does involve some error after all  

 

And seriously your challenge  SO MUCH GREAT STUFF!

 

and cats....all the cats *hoards cats*

[ninjakitten]

Obviously the answer is to be a cat! <3

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

Here for this

[fleaball]

20 hours ago, NeverThatBored said:

Holy shit. So, I did 40 burpees for the Darebee Daily Dares PVP and tore a chunk of skin off my toe at about number 30. It's a good thing I'm used to rug burn from Aikido, but OW. It burns. 

 

...I've got my work cut out for me. 

D:

[NeverThatBored]

22 minutes ago, fleaball said:

D:

 

My sister says I have "cloud feet." I've gotten some callousing since I started Aikido last year, but I still get rug burn on my toes all the time.  Athletic tape is my friend. 

[deftona]

Following along! 

[NeverThatBored]

10 hours ago, LadyShello said:

 

Congrats on having the strength to throw half of it away.  Don't feel too bad about the dessert.  Eating half of a loaf of something you made at home is still better than eating half of whatever that other thing was.  And you used this as a reminder for how you feel afterwards and you initiated an action to counter than by throwing it away.  Now it's time to look ahead and leave this behind. 

 

Thanks, Shello! I don't feel too bad today.  I even saw the thing I would have bought instead at the store earlier and thought "the dessert I made was totally better."

 

9 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

I love the negotiation aspect of your "negative day". That is one nice thing for me having such a large family - things like that don't stay around long enough for me to get more than a piece!

 

I can definitely relate to your thought process. I no longer eat ice cream for this exact reason (and while I can eat dairy free, it's just not the same). I've got to find the source (and it's failing me at the moment), but there is a recent article that discusses how your body reacts to carbs after adjusting to being low-carb. While this doesn't take into consideration any other personal issues, it's not unusual to feel really bad (the source is actually about how people misinterpret this as gluten resistant). 

 

Wouldn't it be great if food willpower was as easy to get as exercise willpower?

 

Yes, yes it would. Food willpower is so complicated, since there's so much emotion and genetic instinct that fights you. Whereas with exercise, the genetic impulse is probably actually helping encourage you to move more? Hm. I'd never thought about it like that before. 

 

That article sounds really interesting. It seems like a lot of paleo types start having bad reactions to carbs after adjusting to low-carb for a while, so I know it's not unusual, but I don't know anything about the science behind it. I actually think it's beneficial, since it encourages me to stay on track. 

 

9 hours ago, spookyfoot said:

You had me at "cat" <33333

 

Throwing out the loaf, finding the positives and the lessons in that experience, those are huge wins that will serve you well in the future <3. Trial and error does involve some error after all  

 

And seriously your challenge  SO MUCH GREAT STUFF!

 

and cats....all the cats *hoards cats*

 

Hi Spooky! That is a very good point. I just have to remind myself that the errors are slowly getting less frequent. 

 

I'm glad you share my important priorities about cats. I literally always perk up when I talk about cats with someone, as opposed to most other topics.  

 

8 hours ago, ninjakitten said:

Obviously the answer is to be a cat! <3

 

Well, yes!  Except for the getting stuck in trees part. Although getting stuck in trees is pretty cute. So...win/win, I guess?

 

7 hours ago, Luciana Valerosa Culming said:

Here for this

 

6 hours ago, deftona said:

Following along! 

 

Hooray! Hi~ 

[NeverThatBored]

Daily Summary

 

Did some things today, but not all of the things. It's Week 0, so that's totally allowed. I did not do burpees. I meditated, practiced crow pose, and did my daily dare. You should all come join our PVP by the way! The link is in my signature! I also went on a run with coworkers at lunch - we do 2 miles when we run together. It's less than I've been doing, but it's good to socialize sometimes. I used to be the one who always needed to stop and take breaks, but it's not me anymore! Which is kind of cool.  I also did a workout today. I'm struggling a lot with balance-assisted pistol squats, so I think I'm going to backtrack and see if I can do eccentric balance-supported pistols (what a mouthful!) to build strength instead. 

 

I made myself a list of how many carbs are in all the foods I eat most often, so it will be easier for me to keep track later on. Ate a cookie today too, but let's not talk about that. I leave tomorrow afternoon to start my travel adventures, so I've been running around cleaning and packing and all that nonsense. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to bootcamp at 5:30 so I'll have two workouts done before I leave. Then I'll only need one more for the week, which should be doable.